Writers: Joe Strummer and Mick Jones
Producer: Guy Stevens
Recorded: August 1979 at Wessex Studios in London, England
Released: December 1979
| Players: | Joe Strummer — vocals, guitar Mick Jones — guitar, vocals Paul Simonon — bass, vocals Nicky “Topper” Headon — drums Mick Gallagher — organ |
| Album: | London Calling (Epic) |
The title track from The Clash's third album, “London Calling” peaked at Number 11 in the U.K., but it didn't chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
Joe Strummer said cowriter Mick Jones made him take a second stab at the song's lyrics after they began working on the song. Strummer recalled, “When there's a big (soccer) match in London, people fill the streets of Soho, and there were some verses about these mobs in Soho. Mick said to me, 'In the chorus it's “London Calling” you're saying — go back and write some more verses and see if you can't come up with something better.' So I went back and re-wrote all the verses.”
For the London Calling album, The Clash chose veteran British producer Guy Stevens, who proved to be a volatile personality in the studio. Jones remembered, “Guy had some very strange production methods. I remember him swinging a ladder about and me ducking and it narrowly missing my head, nearly knocking my head off…When we were playing something he would always be right on top of you, shouting mad things in your ear, like, 'Jerry Lee Lewis is really AAARRRGGGGGHHH!' What he wanted he couldn't do, so he was trying to make you play what he wanted, and if you didn't get it, he'd go mad, get really upset. He was very emotionally involved, 100 percent.”
The London Calling sessions also introduced keyboardist Mick Gallagher, who said he'd “heard (The Clash) here and there, but I'd never listened to them that closely. So I got sent a copy of Give 'Em Enough Rope, had a listen and thought, 'My God, what do they want me to do?'”
Gallagher had a nervy first encounter with Clash drummer Nicky “Topper” Headon, who recalled, “I went into the studio and there was this teddy boy there and he nicked one of my beers. I said, 'Oy, don't (expletive) take beers without asking.' Mick heard this and jumped in and said, 'This is Mickey Gallagher.' I said 'Oh! Pleased to meet you.' I loved the keyboard playing I'd heard, but I didn't know what he looked like.”
London Calling peaked at Number 23 on the Billboard 200 and Number Nine in the U.K. It was certified platinum in the U.S. in February 1996 — more than 16 years after it was released.
London Calling was also named the top album of the '80s in a Rolling Stone magazine critic's poll.
